The British royal family’s longtime approach to the public can be summed up as, “never complain, never explain.” Over centuries, this public relations strategy has generally served them well, maintaining the royals’ prim and proper appearance and general goodwill among the public. But as questions and conspiracy theories about Kate Middleton pile up, the strategy of silence is now backfiring, and observers around the world have started to make up their own narratives about the Princess of Wales’ health and whereabouts.
With Kate out of the spotlight and Kensington Palace refusing to comment on the authenticity or recency of photos of the princess that have appeared in the press, distrust in the royal family has grown.The lack of an official narrative has left room for onlookers to craft their own theories about what’s going on behind closed doors—going against many of the golden rules of PR and communications strategy, experts say.
“The royal family’s motto is the one thing working against them right now,” Beth Booker, founder and publicist at Gracie PR, tells Fortune. “Never complain and never explain—it only works when your audience trusts you. Right now, trust in the royal family is nearly nonexistent. Without trust in the institution itself, in members of the royal family, and in the royal family as a whole, and as long as that remains to be true, that approach will continue to backfire on them.”
Back up—what’s going on with Kate Middleton?
In mid-January, Kensington Palace released a statement saying that the Princess of Wales would be off from royal duties until Easter (the last weekend of March) for “planned abdominal surgery.” But conspiracy theories started flooding the internet in the following weeks as online observers started to question the legitimacy of Kate’s leave.
Then, tabloids and other media outlets released a photo of Kate out-and-about in the car with her mother, Carole Middleton, to make it appear as if she was in good health. But online followers quickly pointed out inconsistencies and argued that the photo wasn’t actually of Kate.
The big event that got many folks on the #KateGate train was when Kensington Palace released a photo of Kate and her three children (Prince George, 10; Princess Charlotte, 8; and Prince Louis, 5) for U.K. Mother’s Day on March 10. Major media outlets picked up the photo, including the Associated Press, which quickly took down the photo in an…
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